Visiting Student Admissions

We seek visiting students who will thrive in Oxford’s unique system of undergraduate education, which requires a great deal of independence, self-discipline, intellectual courage, and focus. The tutorial system means you have just one or two contact hours per week, and usually no one else in your class. And those few contact hours are directed entirely towards you and your work, which means a great deal of self-guided preparation beforehand. Even students who do extremely well in more typical college classrooms can find this a challenge.

If you’re seeking an academic experience where you can dive deeply into questions at the core of your discipline, and if you’re seeking an expert who can support you and push you as far as you can go to find the answers, if you like having your work taken apart and focusing on how to get to the next level – if that excites you, then Oxford might well be the place for you.

The application process includes a personal statement, in which you should explain the reasons why you want to study at Oxford – what your academic interests are and how you imagine they might develop once you’re here. Application readers truly are interested in your intellectual life.

You must also meet the English Language Requirements of the University of Oxford.

To get the full Oxford experience, and allow time to adapt to a different style of teaching and life in a new country, we strongly encourage applying for our full-year with September Seminar option. A year at Oxford is divided up into three terms (trimesters) of eight weeks, with vacations during the Christmas and Easter periods. We’re happy to receive applications for students to stay in College over the vacations once they have arrived at Worcester. You should note that vacation residence incurs additional per-night fees.

Visiting Students must follow Oxford University’s residency policy, requiring students to be based in College for the entire term. Because many Visiting Students have internships or summer jobs, Worcester will permit such students to leave at the end of 6th Week of Trinity Term (6 June 2025) but no earlier. Students seeking such permission must contact the Director of the Visiting Student Programme as soon as possible.

All Chinese applicants should apply through Oxford Prospects.

Apply with Oxford Prospects

Students from Harvard College, Swarthmore College and Wellesley College should get in touch directly with their Study Abroad Offices to apply. Students from Princeton University can apply through their Global Programmes System. Students from other American and Canadian institutions can apply through IFSA or Arcadia.

All North American applicants should submit their applications by 31 January 2024.

EMAIL IFSA Get in touch with Arcadia

All instruction at Oxford, apart from certain modern language courses, is conducted in English. Therefore, the University requires proof of English competency: if your first language isn’t English and you’re not coming from a country where English is the primary language, there are two ways to qualify. You must either have been educated full-time in English for at least two years before you submit your application, or you must pass the IELTS (7.5, with a minimum score of 7.0 on each component) or the TOEFL (100, with at least a 22 in Listening, a 24 in Reading, a 25 in Speaking, and a 24 in Writing). Further information can be found on the University Admissions website.